JPN-306
ADVANCED JAPANESE
Not in Fall 2026
Term
Overview
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that discussion is a clear strength. Difficulty runs on the high side even without a single dominant complaint theme. Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent.
DepartmentAMES
Terms offeredSpring
Typical enrollment5–8
Semesters of data2
5.5
Hrs / week
13
Responses
13
Enrollment
100%
Response Rate
Evaluation Scores
Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
4.6
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
4.6
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
4.6
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
4.0
Feedback Analysis
Feedback Analysismedium
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 49 comments across 2 sections
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that discussion is a clear strength. Difficulty runs on the high side even without a single dominant complaint theme. Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent.
Student Reports
How hard is the A?
Hard to get an A
Students repeatedly frame high grades as something you have to earn. This reads as hard to ace rather than casually easy, especially once the course pace or grading standards ramp up.
Homework Load
Heavy homework load
Homework load is one of the clearest friction points. Students repeatedly describe assignments, readings, or problem sets as time-consuming.
Lecture Load
Lighter lecture burden
Student comments describe this as more discussion-, seminar-, or workshop-driven than lecture-dependent. The lecture burden itself does not sound like the main source of friction.
Strengths
• Discussion is a clear strength; students repeatedly describe the class conversation as engaging and useful.
• Students repeatedly say the course teaches something concrete, whether that is content mastery, research skill, or a strong foundation.
Tradeoffs
• Difficulty runs high even when comments do not settle on one dominant complaint.
Best fit for
Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent.
Watch out for
• A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.
Student Responses
All language skills (speaking, listening, readig, writing)
Spring 2025 · Saito, Azusa
New grammar structures and how to talk about nature, politics, traditional arts, history.
Spring 2025 · Saito, Azusa
Talk, read, and write about more complex social issues in Japanese. Have more natural conversations in casual and formal Japanese
Spring 2025 · Saito, Azusa
Learned how to read Japanese news/media and present that news in simple terms, thought about real-world problems through the lens of Japanese, learned about writing Japanese in many contexts like academic or casual, learned how to conduct interviews in Japanese and generally interact in a Japanese business setting
Spring 2025 · Saito, Azusa
Japanese language (speaking, writing, listening, reading), critical thinking in discussion contexts, interview / communication skills
Spring 2025 · Saito, Azusa
Rating History
Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
| Term | Instructor | Overall | Difficulty | Hrs/wk | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2025 | Saito, Azusa 2.5Rate My ProfessorsQuality2.5Difficulty3.8Would retake17%Based on 16 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.6 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 5 |
| Spring 2024 | Saito, Azusa 2.5Rate My ProfessorsQuality2.5Difficulty3.8Would retake17%Based on 16 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.5 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 8 |
Instructor
Saito, AzusaAMES
Also teaches
JPN-203 INTERMEDIATE JAPANESE4.1JPN-204 INTERMEDIATE JAPANESE4.1